Notre Dame’s linebacker room in 2025 won’t look drastically different from a year ago, but it will have a new leader at the forefront.
With former captain Jack Kiser beginning his NFL journey with the Jacksonville Jaguars and walk-on Tre Reader medically retiring after spring ball, the Irish return a linebacker corps filled with experience under Max Bullough’s guidance.
Kiser’s absence leaves a leadership void, but it also creates an opportunity for junior Drayk Bown, a role he’s been preparing for since committing to Notre Dame in November 2021.
Bullough made it clear last season that he was grooming Bowen for this moment, pushing him to elevate his communication skills in preparation for taking command of the defense in 2025.
Bowen embraced Bullough’s challenge and it didn’t take long for new defensive coordinator Chris Ash to see the impact.
“He leads by example,” stated Ash. “He's one of those guys who is constantly studying the game. He takes great notes. He comes prepared every single day. He's one of the guys who's not afraid to speak up when someone needs to speak up.
“When he goes out there on the practice field, he's gonna try to play with great effort, fundamentals, try to execute his job every single rep.”
Ash has also noticed the 6-foot-2, 235-pounder has the attention of his teammates, which speaks volumes.
“People naturally are going to look up to him,” explained Ash. “He's a guy that's played a lot of football around here. I think he's a smart, tough, accountable player and people look up to those guys.”
Bowen was a consistent force in 2024, appearing in all 16 games and logging 615 snaps. He finished third on the team with 78 tackles and led the Irish with three forced fumbles.
Ash’s challenge to Bowen will be to continue to grow his voice on the field during fall camp.
“He's just trying to still get comfortable in that role because that's really not what he has done, but that's what we need him to do,” Ash stated. “He's still figuring that part of it out. But definitely being a leader by example and he's finding his opportunities to be more vocal when he needs to be.”
Notre Dame’s roster is split into groups for team competitions during workouts, with Bowen serving as one of the group leaders and it’s a role that demands more than just athletic performance.
“If you're a leader of a team, and somebody on your team makes a poor decision, well, I'm not going to the person who made a poor decision,” said head coach Marcus Freeman. “I want to talk to the leader because as a leader, the assumption is you're going to fix the problem, no matter if you can or you can't, no matter if it's your fault or not, like that's what leaders are in a position to do, to problem solve. Well, this person missed or did something wrong. We're looking to the leaders to fix that problem, right? That's what leadership is, it isn't this guy (rah-rah guy), that isn’t what I believe leadership is.”
“You elevate the people you lead, and if the people you're leading aren't elevating, your performance isn't better, then I'm gonna look at you as the leader. That's the way we're going to continuously grow and promote leadership."
Bowen has also dedicated the last six months completely to football. He made the difficult decision to step away from baseball this spring and instead of relaxing during his three-week summer break, Bowen headed to Dallas to train at EXOS.
Those small decisions could pave the way for a big 2025 for Bowen, as well as the Notre Dame defense, but don’t look for those goals to be front and center this fall.
“We'll have some goals,” said Ash. “We'll have things that we'll look at, but if we're winning games and we're a part of that, then we're playing good defense.”
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